Mei-chan no Shitsuji (ep 1-10 complete) July 10, 2010

An enjoyable, typically silly Jdrama-based-on-manga. To be honest, it surprises me sometimes the manga they choose to adapt into live-action TV shows. Contemporary tales of professional ambition, comedy or romance, even those with robots, ok. But a story about a girl whisked away to an elite academy (and when I say elite I mean ridiculously luscious, upper-class toff, campus the 1/3 the size of Tokyo elite) and forced to battle for respect, while falling in love (or not) with her butler.

Yes, every girl in St. Lucia academy has a butler. An English cliche-style butler. Because that’s what rich people do. Sometimes I think the plots of some Japanese drama are more bizarre than anime. But I think that’s probably because I tend to watch more emotional, slice-of-life anime (sci-fi aside) but, weirdly, lean toward the bizarre manga-based ones when it comes to Jdrama :P

As far as the show itself goes, I recognised Mizashima Hiro from Zettai Kareshi, but his character is completely different here. Shame that ‘elite-class butler’ seems to equate to ‘bland’. I also didn’t really buy him and Eikura Nana (SPOILER) as a viable couple, as much as I really liked Eikura in the role. Perhaps someone who’s read the original manga can tell me if the drama really changed things. I’d put a strong bet on the original making more of the MeiXMamashiba pairing.

I did, however, take a real shine to the St. Lucia Academy class and their butlers, as well as the headmistress who just wants to read One Piece all day. None of them were particularly well-rounded (how could you in a 10 episode show?), but in this case their one-dimensional nature actually made it easier to track the huge number of characters in the show :P

In any case, if you like the same thing I do, ridiculous comedy shojo plots with unbelievable (really unbelievable) twists, loveable characters and CG mascots who appear for no reason (gotta love the sheep), Mei-chan is totally up your street.